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SALMON ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST
{OR Salmon Management. On Jan. 5, 2000, an ECONorthwest economist
submitted
a report to the OR Board of Forestry, concluding that logging
restrictions
to protect salmon habitat would yield other economic benefits in tourism
and
recreation that could outweigh the costs of the reduced timber harvest.
This report was prepared for several environmental groups, including OR
Trout, Portland Audubon, and Pacific Rivers Council.} {{On Jan. 6,
1999, OR
Governor John Kitzhaber announced that programs under the OR salmon plan
had
improved salmon habitat by upgrading or removing more than 1,400 miles
of
road from service to reduce erosion and by fencing wildlife and
livestock
from 400 miles of streambank.}} [Portland Oregonian]
{{AK Salmon Dumping Case. On Jan. 5, 2000, Juneau, AK, District Court
officials announced that a May 2, 2000 trial date had been set for an
Excursion Inlet salmon canning plant and its manager charged in November
1999, with 19 misdemeanor counts of intentional salmon waste. Almost
3.2
million pounds of chum salmon carcasses were alleged to have been dumped
in
Icy Strait over a period of 19 days, after their eggs were removed (roe
stripping).}} [Anchorage Daily News]
{BC Salmon Management. On Jan. 4, 2000, managers of Canada's Dept. of
Fisheries and Oceans released salmon forecasts for 2000, predicting a
below
average to poor harvest in all areas with limited fishery openings and
possible complete closures. The sockeye salmon fishery at the mouth of
the
Fraser River is expected to be limited or closed. For the sport
fishery,
additional restrictions may be imposed on catching chinook salmon on the
west coast of Vancouver Island. The northern commercial troll fishery
will
likely be closed for the entire season due to coho and chinook salmon
conservation concerns. However, sockeye salmon returns to the Skeena
and
Nass Rivers are expected to improve. A third round of commercial
license
buybacks ended in late December 1999.} [Canadian Press]
{Proposed Tribal Plan Exemption. On Jan. 3, 2000, NMFS published a
proposed
rule that would exempt implementation of tribal resource management
plans
from the Endangered Species Act's Section 9 take prohibitions for
threatened
salmon populations, where implementation of such plans has been
determined
to be unlikely to reduce the survival and recovery of listed salmon.}
[Fed.
Register]
Corps Draft EIS. In Portland, OR, on Dec. 17, 1999, the Army Corps of
Engineers released its 5-year, $20 million, 4,000-page draft
environmental
impact study of 4 options to change operation of the 4 lower Snake River
dam
to assist salmon recovery. The document is reported to include an
advisory
recommendation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the dams be
breached. The Corps recommended more study in the belief that current
scientific understanding in inconclusive. A preferred alternative would
be
identified late in 2000. NMFS officials announced a plan to conduct a
comprehensive economic analysis of the all salmon recovery options.
[Assoc
Press, Seattle Times, American Rivers press release]
Salmon 4(d) Rule. On Dec. 14, 1999, NMFS announced new proposed
regulations
for protecting 14 populations of threatened steelhead trout and salmon
under
Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act, giving state and local
governments significant powers. A series of 15 regional hearings will
be
held during the 60-day public comment period on the proposal. Exempt
from
these regulations would be WA loggers who abide by new state timber
harvest
regulations, urban developers following the Portland Metro guidelines,
and
OR Dept. of Transportation crews who follow new road maintenance
guidelines.
Other exemptions could be allowed for scientific research, fish
hatcheries,
commercial and sport fishing, and habitat restoration that meet NMFS
standards. {{These proposed rules were published in the Federal Register
on
Dec. 30, 1999 (steelhead trout) and on Jan. 3, 2000 (salmon). Public
comment will be accepted until Feb. 22, 2000 (steelhead trout) and Mar.
3,
2000 (salmon).}} [Assoc Pr!
ess, Seattle Times, Seattle Post- Intelligencer, Fed. Register]
Salmon Habitat and Mining Lawsuit. On Dec. 13, 1999, U.S. District
Court
Magistrate John P. Cooney ruled that U.S. Forest Service officials
violated
the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan and federal law threatening critical
salmon
and steelhead spawning habitat by allowing mining operations in the
Silver
Creek, OR (Illinois River) drainage without environmental analyses and
approved operations plans. The lawsuit was filed in September 1998 by
the
Siskiyou Regional Education Project. [Assoc Press]
NPPC Project Funding. On Dec. 7, 1999, the Northwest Power Planning
Council
approved $140 million in funding for almost 300 projects to mitigate
loss of
fish and wildlife habitat. All projects were evaluated by the NPPC's
Independent Scientific Review Panel. The NPPC did award an $8 million
grant
to the Nez Perce Tribe to build a salmon hatchery on the Clearwater
River,
despite the Review Panel's recommendation against this project. [Assoc
Press]
Savage Rapids Dam. On Dec. 6, 1999, the Grants Pass Irrigation District
Board adopted a proposed list of demands, including federal payment of
$27
million for dam removal and associated expenses, as a formal condition
for
agreeing to removal of the Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue River. {On
Jan.
18, 2000, ballots from Grants Pass Irrigation District patrons will be
counted to determine whether patrons will approve conditions set by the
District's Board for meeting demands by the OR Water Resources Council
and
NMFS to remove Savage Rapids Dam.} [Portland Oregonian, Assoc Press]
FRESHWATER FISHERIES
{Atlantic Salmon. In late December 1999, NMFS and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service announced that the public comment period for the
proposed
Endangered Species Act listing of Atlantic salmon in ME was extended for
an
additional month, and that 2 additional public hearings were scheduled.}
[Assoc Press]
Dam Removal Report. On Dec. 13, 1999, American Rivers, Friends of the
Earth, and Trout Unlimited are scheduled to release a new report "Dam
Removal Success Stories: Restoring Rivers Through Selective Removal of
Dams
That Don't Make Sense." This report documents 465 U.S. dams that have
been
removed since 1912 and focuses on 25 detailed case studies. [American
Rivers
press release, Assoc Press]
Contaminated Striped Bass. On Dec. 8, 1999, five Manhattan, NY, fish
wholesalers were charged by the U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White with
illegally
selling thousands of pounds of striped bass caught in PCB-contaminated
Hudson River waters under the George Washington Bridge between March
1995
and mid-1998. Four owners and one employee of these companies were
arrested
and arraigned in U.S. magistrate court for violating the Lacey Act. [Los
Angeles Times, Assoc Press]
Dam Removal. On Dec. 1, 1999, U.S. Marines were scheduled to use
explosives
to demolish 12-foot high Rains Mill Dam on the Little River in the Neuse
River drainage, NC, providing migratory fish (alewife, American shad,
hickory shad, Atlantic sturgeon, shortnose sturgeon, and striped bass)
access to 49 miles of habitat. [Environment News Service]
MARINE MAMMALS
{AK Sea Otters. Jan. 11, 2000 is the deadline for public comments to
the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a request by a consultant to 2
Japanese
aquariums to capture a up to 2 sea otters apiece from Kodiak waters for
export and public display in Japan.} [Anchorage Daily News, Fed.
Register]
{CA Sea Lion Deaths. The Jan. 6, 2000, issue of Nature contained an
article
concluding that the deaths of more than 400 CA sea lions between
Monterey
Bay and Morro Bay in 1998 was caused by domoic acid from a toxic
dinoflagellate plankton bloom.} [San Jose Mercury]
{FL Manatees. On Jan. 5, 2000, the FL Marine Research Institute
announced
that a record high 73 manatees were killed by boats in the first 10
months
of 1999. This exceeded the previous record loss of 60 manatee deaths in
all
of 1996.} [Assoc Press]
Dolphin-Safe? On Dec. 22, 1999, U.S. Dept. of Commerce officials
published
notice in the Federal Register, proposing adoption of an official
dolphin-safe logo in conjunction with a tuna tracking program to assure
consumers that no dolphins were injured or killed during tuna
harvesting.
{On Jan. 3, 2000, NMFS published an interim final rule in the Federal
Register, implementing provisions of the International Dolphin
Conservation
Program Act and establishing specific requirements for the program.
Public
comment on the new rule will be accepted through Apr. 3, 2000. The
regulations implement a new labeling standard for dolphin-safe tuna,
effective Feb. 2, 2000, and establish requirements to track and verify
the
status of tuna imports from the eastern tropical Pacific.} [Environment
News
Service, Fed. Register, Environmental News Network, Dept. of State,
Humane
Society of the United States press release]
Canadian Sealing. On Dec. 21, 1999, Canadian Fisheries Minister Herb
Dhaliwal announced that the year 2000 harp seal kill quota will remain
at
275,000 animals, saying no information justifies a change from last
year.
The hooded seal kill quota would remain at 10,000 animals. In addition,
a
kill of several hundred grey seals will be allowed in areas other than
Sable
Island. [Canadian Press]
Japanese Whaling. On Dec. 20, 1999, Greenpeace activists harassed
Japanese
whalers killing minke whales in the Antarctic. On Dec.21, 1999, the
Japanese factory whaling ship Nisshin Maru collided with the Greenpeace
vessel Arctic Sunrise carrying activists protesting Japan's research
kill of
Antarctic minke whales. There were no reported injuries and damage
appeared
to not be serious. [Reuters, Greenpeace press release, Environment News
Service, personal communication]
Steller Sea Lion Shooting. On Dec. 16, 1999, a Petersburg, AK, man was
charged in U.S. District Court (Anchorage, AK) with shooting and killing
several Steller sea lions near Wrangell, AK, in February 1998.
Arraignment
is scheduled for Jan. 20, 2000. [Assoc Press]
Cook Inlet Beluga Whales. On Dec. 16, 1999, NMFS biologists, speaking
at a
public scoping meeting on drafting an NMFS environmental impact
statement
for managing Cook Inlet beluga whales, reported the results of summer
1999
surveys, indicating that decline in this whale population had ceased and
that the population was stable. The 1999 population estimate was 357
whales, nearly the same as the 1998 estimate of 347 animals. [Anchorage
Daily News]
Whale and Dolphin Transport. As of Dec. 7, 1999, Lufthansa Airlines
adopted
the policy that it will no longer transport whales and dolphins for
aquariums and water parks. This action was taken in response to a
request
from Sea Shepherd Europe that the airline review its policies on
transport
of wild animals after a November 1999 incident wherein 2 dolphins died
in a
Lufthansa cargo machine. [Environment News Service]
Items in this summary are excerpted from a variety of information
sources.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is not responsible for the
accuracy
of the various news items.
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